As dues notices are being sent to Aesthetic Society members, I want to remind everyone to be sure to include the dues for The Aesthetic Foundation (ASERF). This will be automatically included in your dues unless you opt out of paying. I have been told by members that often their staff will uncheck anything that is not mandatory. Because of our non-profit status we cannot make dues mandatory, so we hope that you feel supporting the research that The Foundation funds is important enough for you to ask your staff to include the $350 dues in your Society payment for next year.
The dues support the 30+ ongoing studies that have been funded by The Foundation including studies such as “Cytotoxicity of Implant-Exposed Serum on Breast Cancer”, “Impact of Xeomin, Dysport, and Botox on Nerve Injuries”, “Effect of Intramuscular Fat Grafting on New Muscle Formation”, “Does TXA reduce Bruising After Hyaluronic Acid Filler Injection: A Prospective half face study”, “Increasing SMAS Durability via Photochemical Passivation for Facelifts”, and “Histologic Effects of Energy-Based Skin Tightening Treatments”. The grants cover a wide variety of research that affects all our practices and our patients.
The Foundation also awards grants to breast cancer patients to help with costs of daily living through the Breast Cancer Journey Assistance Fund, which awarded over $50,000 last year, and defraying the cost of Breast Cancer reconstruction costs through the Mollenkopf Aesthetic Breast Reconstruction Fund.
Medical students from schools without plastic surgery programs are matched with plastic surgeon mentors through The Foundation’s Externship Program to provide these students with exposure to our specialty and hopefully improve their chance of securing a plastic surgery residency position when they graduate.
I know that we are all inundated with requests for money, so I understand why an office manager might skip the non-mandatory parts of our membership dues. We hope to increase participation in The Foundation to at least 80% of Aesthetic Society members, so please ask you staff to ensure your dues are paid for next year.
Sincerely,
Patricia McGuire, MD
President, The Aesthetic Foundation
